悄 qiāo quiet
quiet; silent; still
How to remember 悄: 忄 heart + 肖 resemble = quiet. Father and son, who resemble each other so much, tiptoe past the sleeping baby with pounding hearts, perfectly quiet.
Component breakdown
悄 = 忄 heart + 肖 resemble
- 忄 heart
- 肖 resemble
Father and son, who resemble each other so much, tiptoe past the sleeping baby with pounding hearts, perfectly quiet.
How it is used
- 悄 mainly appears reduplicated as 悄悄 (qiāoqiāo), an adverb meaning quietly/secretly, describing an action done without drawing attention.
- 他悄悄地走了 (tā qiāoqiāo de zǒu le) - he left quietly/secretly, without anyone noticing.
- With a different reading, qiǎo, it appears in the more literary/melancholic 悄然 (qiǎorán), "quietly, imperceptibly" - used in writing more than speech.
- Rarely stands alone as a single-character word in conversation.